Please welcome Briana Lawrence with
I Am Magical
magnifiqueNOIR #1
Blurb:
There is a city. It is like most other cities. Buildings. People. Monsters who can destroy sidewalks by vomiting acid onto the ground, and an elite group of black, queer, magical girls who work to put those monsters in their place. See? Just like most other cities. Bree Danvers would have compared it to a video game, maybe a cartoon or comic book, except black girls are rarely the heroines of the story.
But there her heroine stood, plus sized and wonderful, rocking a dazzling amount of purple and defeating monsters with galactic sparkles. Galactic Purple, that was her name, and soon, Bree was joining her on a magical adventure full of transformations and after school battles to defend a city like most other cities. And soon, others would join them, and each one would be magical in their own way... give or take a few bumps on the acid covered ground.
According to Cosmic Green, the pixelated YouTube sensation (at least in her own mind), “magnifiqueNOIR” is a story about a group of black, queer, magical girls on a quest to protect their city from dastardly foes who have the audacity to interrupt her sacred midnight launches. Of course, Galactic Purple, the leader of the gang, would say that there’s more to them than that. Always full of poise, she knows that they are tasked with defending the city, picking up where the previous generation of magical girls left off. Radical Rainbow, always ready for a challenge, would agree with both of them, while the mysterious Prism Pink smiles at their antics.
This book series is a bit of a love letter to the likes of “Sailor Moon” with a healthy dose of “Representation Matters.” It’s really important to show black girls in a positive light, which is exactly what I set out to do. All the girls are in college, which is when I personally came out, so I wanted to set the story during the time where I really started to explore who I was as a queer, black woman. I’m still discovering things about myself today, but for me, college was when things really started to make sense.
Each girl represents a different part of the queer spectrum, to the point that some of their outfits rock the colors. Radical Rainbow and Prism Pink are probably the most obvious ones, and honestly, Radical Rainbow is the reason why the story got so big. I didn’t plan on there being a huge plot, but she... kinda fought with me (as characters do sometimes). Her arc in the first book is pretty significant, and that, in turn, helped me flesh out the development of the other girls. Because of her, I came up with the idea of the girls facing monsters that reflect some real life issues: sexual harassment, racism, sexism, things like that. And the girls, well, they get to punch those things in the face, which is pretty awesome. This will be a theme throughout the series, and along the way, you’ll get to know more about the girls along with the people who are important to them.
Excerpt:
“Hey baby girl.”
All she had wanted was to have an uneventful, dry walk home, but the universe decided that she had to deal with some unwanted company. Not just any ol’ unwanted company, oh no, it had to be a random man on a self-appointed side quest where he mistook stalking a young woman as a charming character trait. If Bree had to guess, she’d say that the man was old enough to be her father – whoever or wherever he was. This fully grown man had no business making eye contact with an eighteen year old girl’s chest. Where was her mother now to condemn this man to hell? Then again, her mother would potentially blame this on her state of dress, as if she could stop the weather from forcing her into a wet T-shirt contest. “I’m not a toddler, sir.”
“You know that ain’t what I meant,” he said as he stepped closer. “What’s your name?”
“Unnamed protagonist,” Bree muttered, hoping her dry humor would make him lose interest.
Unfortunately, it made him persist. “That ain’t a name,” he laughed.
“I don’t have a name. My parents didn’t bother entering one into the select screen.”
The man’s smile immediately faded, the amused look draining from his face. “I’m just tryin’ to be nice, you don’t have to be such a-”
“Bitch?”
The man snorted this time. “Y’all black girls are too much, sometimes. Y’all always gotta have an attitude.”
“I guess so,” then Bree turned and walked off.
“I ain’t done with you yet!”
Bree rolled her eyes and kept walking. What a perfect way to end the evening. Not that she thought she’d gotten away from the creeps who referred to her as their baby. She knew that was a worldwide phenomenon, but did she have to face it now?
“I said I ain’t done with you!”
Bree had become accustomed to being labeled as unfriendly or, in this case, a bitch, but it never went any further than that. Hearing the sound of someone running after her caught her completely off guard. She felt the man grab her and force her to turn and face him, his eyes wild and chapped lips curled in pure malice toward her. In seconds he had her on the ground, the back of her head crashing into a puddle on the sidewalk with a wet thud.
“W-what the hell are you doing?! Get off of me!” Maybe, if she screamed loud enough, someone would hear her. There had been people outside before, someone had to come to her aid.
Right?